The Farasan Banks coral reefs, in the Red Sea off Jeddah, will soon be the subject of a four-year collaborative coral reef research program. The study, which is scheduled to begin along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia from today and runs until April 28, will focus on a little-known area called the Farasan Banks.
The expedition is a joint partnership of the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development of Saudi Arabia, the National Coral Reef Institute of the United States and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
"Our ultimate goal is to influence positive actions by resource management authorities to preserve the coral reef resources of the world since ecosystem-based management can only be effectively achieved through the knowledge gained by scientific surveys and analyses," said Prince Gen. Khaled bin Sultan, founder and chairman of the Living Oceans Foundation.
This is the first time this area has been scientifically surveyed since Jacques Cousteau visited it on the Calypso in 1951. Cousteau described this area in his book The Living Sea as: "The wildest of all the reef complexes in the Red Sea ... 350 miles long and thirty miles wide .... This demented masterpiece of outcrops, shoals, foaming reefs, and other lurking ship-breakers was created by societies of minute animals that have changed the aspect of our planet far more than man has yet been able to do."
"This expedition to the Farasan Banks area is important because it is a geologically unique feature of the Red Sea that has not been surveyed since Cousteau was there almost six decades ago," said Capt. Phillip Renaud, executive director of the Living Oceans Foundation.
The Farasan Banks area comprises of underwater peaks that reach up from the seabed at over 1,000 feet that resemble coral atolls and enclose deepwater lagoons, many of which contain lush coral formations. These multitude of reefs and islands extend from south Jeddah up to the coast of Yemen.
The banks are made up of small islands and a multitude of reefs most of which rise above the surface.
"There are no geological structures that compare to them in the Red Sea," Capt. Renaud told Arab News in a phone interview before his departure. "They're pinnacles that come up from a 1,000-feet deep to the surface, and at the surface, they may only be 5 to 30 feet deep and then they drop off with steep walls and they go right down to the sea floor. They're about 30 to 40 miles off the coast of Saudi Arabia, about 200 miles south of Jeddah."
Common characteristics of the sites are the rich variety of hard coral found on the peaks and the large quantity of unusual fish found in the currents.
"This is a productive fishing ground for Saudi Arabia so it is important to survey the fish communities living in and around these coral reefs to determine if overfishing is occurring, since overfishing is a known source of harm to the health of coral reefs around the world," said Capt. Renaud.
As an offshore coral reef system, the Farasan Banks is fairly well protected from pollution and other stressors common to reefs near populated shorelines with fishing stress being a notable exception.
This remote area will allow the expedition an opportunity to assess the health of coral reefs without the usual stressors that normally affect reefs that are located in close proximity to cities and towns.
The expedition complements earlier phases of the Red Sea research program conducted since 2006. These focused on the Farasan Islands, at the extreme southern Saudi Arabia; Ra's Qisbah, at the northernmost end of the Red Sea; and the Yanbu Barrier Reef, or Al-Wajh Bank area, off the north-central coast. The four-year study of the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia has produced habitat maps for coral reefs and other shallow marine environments along a vast latitude spread from the northern Red Sea near the Gulf of Aqaba to the southern border with Yemen.
Techniques used include satellite and airborne remote sensing, combined with state of the art in-water validation of depth, bottom features, and community composition. "One of the most powerful things we do is to use high tech satellite sensors and combine them with sophisticated scuba surveys," said Capt. Renaud. "The results of this comprehensive program are expected to give Saudi Arabia a distinct advantage in identifying the areas of highest biodiversity value so that the country can develop effective management plans to conserve these invaluable resources for future generations," said Prince Khaled. Coral reef ecosystems are under growing stress due to local stressors such as overfishing and pollution; natural impacts such as diseases, bleaching, predator outbreaks, and hurricanes; and global climate change which is causing elevated temperatures and increasing ocean acidity. The research aims to evaluate the current status and condition of Saudi Arabian coral reefs. It will also identify ongoing threats of concern, patterns of recovery from multiple past disturbance events - such as coral bleaching events that occurred over the last decade, and the ability for reefs to resist future change and persist under future global climate change scenarios. The maps will become the base of a detailed Geographical Information System (GIS) database that can be valuable to marine resource managers for site-specific ecosystem conservation measures such as establishment of marine protected areas. The expedition's research is expected to provide a baseline of data on the types of habitats, species, and factors that promote coral reef health during these times of global climate change. This data can then be used in conservation efforts necessary to preserve coral reefs worldwide.
